Castle Hill Farm in Northbridge on preservation wish list

At the end of a dead-end scenic road, lined by a stone wall that many hands built in lieu of being laid off, is a boarded up barn — all that remains of what was once a thriving dairy farm.

But Castle Hill Farm represents more than what it was 100 years ago — it is part of the genealogy of many families still residing in Northbridge and represents an opportunity to add to a large swath of open space that straddles the Uxbridge-Northbridge town line.

The farm — also known by locals as the 100-acre lot, but actually closer to 70 acres — is the subject of a recent preservation effort started by the Metacomet Land Trust. The MLT recently formed “The Friends of Castle Hill Farm” and is hoping to engage larger land preservation organizations in hopes of forming a partnership to finance the preservation of the farm

The property is currently owned by the Bernon Family Realty Trust of Cranston, R.I., according to assessor's records. The farm sits abandoned and the only existing building is boarded up. The 70 acres of land is assessed at $416,000.

The land trust is trying to gauge local interest for preserving the land. Discussions with the owner have been preliminary.

The farm was started by John Crane “J.C.” Whitin in the mid-1800s. Mr. Whitin, who worked at the Whitin Machine Works, purchased a handful of smaller farms to create the larger 70-acre or so farm that became his hobby, said John H. “Jack” Crawford, a retired lieutenant with the Massachusetts State Police and local historian of the farm.

Several years ago, after his retirement from the Massachusetts State Police, the Northbridge Historical Society asked Mr. Crawford to give a presentation on Castle Hill Farm, beginning his long and learned association with the property.

The property once contained a main barn, a milk processing room and a barn to house the cattle. The cattle were housed on the second floor of the barn — which is the only building that currently remains on the property — and the cows would access the barn area by a ramp.

Mr. Whitin first started his hobby with a herd of Jersey cows. At some point, however, 15 of the 26 Jersey cows contracted tuberculosis and died. The Jersey cows were replaced with Holsteins, which were common in Germany and Holland. The Holsteins came to Northbridge from the Netherlands with two farm hands.

“That started the whole Dutch migration,” Mr. Crawford said.

Mr. Whitin died in 1882, about 10 years after his first wife Catherine Haven Leland. Mr. Whitin married his second wife, Sara E. Pratt in 1875 and she inherited the farm upon Mr. Whitin's death. She died in 1917.

In 1919, Whitin Machine Works took over the farm and it was transformed from a hobby to a business by E. Kent Swift, CEO of the machine shop, Mr. Crawford said. Under Mr. Kent, the farm began selling milk locally, providing it to local schools, and putting bottles of milk in a vending machine for shop workers.

The farm was sold to the Garelick Family in 1955 for $56,000, according to Mr. Crawford's research.

The main barn was destroyed by fire in 1957.

“Everybody remembers the '57 fire,” said Peter Lachapelle, a former selectman who lives across the street from the farm — in one of the homes built to house the farm's workers. “It lit up the entire town.”

Mr. Crawford said he remembered, as a teenager, riding his bicycle to watch the fire.

Lining the property is a stone wall that was built by workers from the Whitin Machine Works.

When an economic depression hit in the mid 1870s, Mr. Whitin hired the employees to clear the land on his farm. The property is lined with a stone wall, and many of the stones are still grooved with chisel marks from where the stones were split by hand.

“Rather than lose the labor pool, they kept the younger workers at Castle Hill Farm clearing the field, picking rocks and doing manual labor,” Mr. Crawford said. “The older folks worked four days a week in the mill. This way, both edges of society were able to provide for their families and have a job.”

The older workers earned $1.50 a day, making $6 a week; while the younger ones working the farm were paid $1.10 a day, and earned $6.60 a week for working six days.

What resulted is “one of the grandest stone walls in the state,” said Mr. Lachapelle.

Castle Hill Farm is part of Whitinsville's National Historic Register District, and in 2007 was listed as one of the state's 10 most endangered historic resources by Preservation Massachusetts.

“This farm is reminiscent of another time,” Mr. Lachapelle said. “Once that's gone, it's gone forever. It's a piece of history that can't be replaced.”

Meanwhile, a preliminary plan was submitted to the Planning Department for 75 single family homes several years ago, Town Planner R.Gary Bechtholdt II said. “There's been no specific activity, but the plan showed what the development potential is.”

And, for residents like Mr. Lachapelle, what is looming if the land is not preserved. At one of Mr. Crawford's recent presentations on the history of Castle Hill Farm held at the Whitinsville Christian School, the farm was hailed as a keystone piece to protect and restore and could be a component of a National Park in the Blackstone Valley area.

“At some point, the economy is going to come back in the next few years,” Mr. Lachapelle said. “There is pressure now to preserve this land.”

Contact Donna Boynton at dboynton@telegram.com or follow her on Twitter @DonnaBoyntonTG